Then, for over a fortnight, nothing. Aside, that is, from one loyal monthly listener in Milton Keynes, England. (Thanks mum.)

But this past week-and-a-half, things have kicked right off.

First 1,000 listens, then 3,000, then 5,000. Word’s getting out.

As we stand today, Pinky Hue has racked up more than 10,000 Spotify plays – and is already marching towards 15,000.

Anyone know a good manager?

There’s just one problem with this empowering rags-to-riches story, of course.

I bought these streams off the internet.

And I could have bought 2 million of them.

The issue of fake streams has been on my mind since Midem back in June – in particular, a panel called ‘How distributors and streaming services collaborate.’

Anne-Marie Robert (VP International, Tunecore France) appeared alongside reps from the likes of The Orchard and ADA, and was asked how self-releasing artists could gain better access to streaming playlists which would then revolutionize their career.

“Contrary to my friends from ADA and The Orchard, we don’t provide direct trade marketing services because we let the artist do [that] and we take no commission,” she replied.

“But we give a lot of advice on our blog… and also, we are partnering with some services where you can buy some streams [on] Deezer and other websites which can help you.”

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Robert’s comments triggered a subsequent thought in my head: How hard is it to go out and actually purchase fake plays online?

So, the other week, I Googled ‘buy fake Spotify streams’.

And voila: options.

The top result was for a company called Streamify, which boasts on its homepage: ‘Whether you want to get more fans, boost sales or just monitor your plays count, Streamify has the answers and insights you need to get your songs played more.’

Streamify LLC is officially located in Houston, Texas and offers a full menu of fake stream solutions delicacies specific to Daniel Ek’s platform.

For the timid trialist, $5 will buy you 1,000 plays.

For the bolder connoisseur, $200 will buy you 100,000 plays.

And for the full-on, screw-it-this-will-change-my-life desperado, $2,250 will buy you 2 million plays.

Other options for buying Spotify streams on the internet – and to be clear, MBW cannot vouch for the legitimacy of these companies – include Streampot/StreamKO and Mass Media, both of which also sell packages of fake YouTube plays.

Fiverr is a freelance marketplace operating across various disciplines.

It has a dedicated ‘Buy Spotify Streams’ section, where it claims to enable customers to “[purchase] Spotify plays from music expert promotion freelancers & get your Spotify music or album promoted within 24hrs”.

A range of vendors are currently offering struggling artists the chance to buy their way onto playlists with over 50k followers.

One vendor, based in Brazil, even says they can “add your song to a verified playlist on Spotify” for just $10 (£7.68).

Before we come on to the ‘why this is quite a big deal when you think about it’ bit… here’s an important note about where (and where not) to point the finger.

While I was trying to bulk up Pinky Hue’s adoring fanbase – through fragrantly cheating the system – Streamify kept slapping me with a health warning.

Spotify’s anti-fake detection system is, in Streamify’s own words, “very sensitive to sudden changes in artists’ and songs’ popularity and the daily plays they receive”.

The site further warns: “[It] seems [Spotify] have some kind of automated alarm system in place, that monitors daily plays and raises (false) alarms.”

For this reason, Streamify recommends that its users heed caution in how many fake streams they try to buy in each 24 hour period.

It suggests never going above 5,000 a day for new tracks, before piling on the plays after a solid foundation is built.

Clearly, Spotify is not dumb.

So what’s the wider industry issue here?

There are a few.

First, it’s common knowledge that the music business fame escalator – the tried-and-tested machinations that gradually take an artist from unknown to superstar – are heavily invested in data.

What if some of that data, particularly early-stage data, is made of nothing but smoke and mirrors?

Case in point: if an act contacts a label, publisher, management company, law practice, live agent or local radio station with 2m+ Spotify streams under their belt, they are surely more likely to get some attention.

This certainly isn’t exclusive to Spotify numbers. It will be no surprise to hear that options for ‘buy fake YouTube streams’ and ‘buy fake SoundCloud streams’ are even more popular/prevalent online.